BOSTON, Mass. — Two Florida companies operating an unlicensed medical clinic in Massachusetts offering treatment for erectile dysfunction have been ordered to pay $17 million for deceptive marketing.
The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office announced the judgement Monday after a judge handed down the decision against Florida Men's Medical Clinic and Men's Medical Clinic.
"Patients entrust medical providers with their health and well-being, and all patients deserve access to honest and proper care," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said.
The complaint against FMMC, MMC and clinic operators Dr. Kevin Hornsby and Heidi Hornsby, both Florida residents, was filed in July of 2015.
One of the allgations made against the companies was "deceptively omitting from their advertising that the treatment they were selling involved a penile injection procedure that involved a needle," court documents said.
The companies were also accused of using numerous TV, print and radio ads to:
- Falsely represent the medications they offered as new, unique to each patient, painless and having little or no side effects
- Deceptively downplay the risks of the treatment they marketed and exaggerating the failings of other medications and treatments for erectile dysfunction
- Illegally advertise their facility as a clinic when it was not licensed
- Engage in high-pressure sales tactics
- Falsely claim that the medication they sold was by law not returnable
Additionally, the facilities allowed individuals without the appropriate license to perform medical procedures, including injections, without a physician present, the Attorney General's Office said.
More than 4,000 men were treated at the facilities and collectively paid more than $5 million to the companies, officials said.
Cox Media Group
